Author: Pat W

Weekend Preview: 29-30 August 2009

Apologies for the delay..again!!

Feature Events

FIA Formula 1

– Formula 1 ING Belgian Grand Prix
– Spa-Francorchamps
– between Spa and Francorchamps, Belgium
– (12/17)
– www.formula1.com

Spa! It’s only Spa!! We all love Spa, and I think this weekend’s grid proves why, not to mention the stunning scenery around the circuit as they cars thread their way through the trees. This a proper race track, not like the car park in Valencia or the Mickey Mouse run around in Hungary.

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on BBC One at 12.10pm BST Sunday
USA – LIVE on SPEED at 7.30am ET Sunday

with GP2 Series, Formula Master, FBMW Europe, Porsche Supercup.


IRL IndyCar Series

– Peak Antifreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300
– Chicagoland Speedway
– Joliet, Illinois, United States
– (15/17)
– www.indycar.com

With the aero updates introduced before Kentucky, mixed with the ‘overtake assist’, will we see a return to 2 and 3 wide at Chicagoland? I hope so! Unfortunately this race is on at 2am our time so I won’t be watching live.

TV Guide:
UK – DELAYED on Sky Sports 2 at 9am BST Sunday
USA – LIVE on VERSUS at 9pm ET Saturday

with Indy Lights


MotoGP

– Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix
– Indianapolis Motor Speedway
– Speedway, Indiana, United States
– (12/17)
– www.motogp.com

Last year this event was affected by severe weather conditions as Hurricane Ike ran amok over Indy, the race had to be stopped because of it and the 250cc got cancelled, so in effect you could say this is the first ‘real’ running of MotoGP at Indy. I really hope the local populace will come out to support it, unfortunately there is an IndyCar race up in Chicago which isn’t million miles away and will pull some of the potential audience away. I’m not sure there is a lot of crossover of fans but there must be some, right?

TV Guide:
UK – LIVE on BBC THREE at 7.45pm BST Sunday
USA – LIVE on FOX at ???pm ET Sunday

with 250cc, 125cc, etc

Other Events


American Le Mans Series

– Grand Prix of Mosport
– Mosport
– Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada
– (8/10)
– www.americanlemans.com

TV Guide:
USA – LIVE on SPEED at 3pm Sunday
You can also follow along at the official website and at Radio Le Mans.

Atlantics, Star Mazda, FBMW Americas and the IMSA GT3 Cup join them.


NASCAR Nationwide Series

– NAPA Auto Parts 200
– Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal, Canada
– www.nascar.com


NASCAR Camping World Trucks

– Chicagoland 225
– Chicagoland Speedway
– Joliet, Illinois, United States
– www.nascar.com


Grand Am

– Montreal
– Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal, Canada


FIA GT

– Hungaroring
– Budapest, Hungary
– www.fiagt.com


BTCC

– Silverstone (National circuit)
– Silverstone, Northants, England, UK


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Apologies for the lateness of the post!!

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Sources:
FORIX (sub req.)
Live Sport on TV
RadioTimes.com
series websites

No Preview..

Sorry guys, no full Weekend Preview from me this weekend. This has to have been the busiest week off I’ve ever had!!

In brief..

F1 / GP2 / FBMW-E / P.Supercup — Valencia

IndyCar / IndyLights — Sonoma

NASCAR Sprint Cup / Nationwide Series — Bristol

LMS / Formula Le Mans / German F3 / ADAC FMaster / ADAC GT — Nurburgring

Euroseries3000 / FIA GT4 — Zolder

V8 Supercar / V8 Dev.Series / Australian F3 / FFord — Queensland

SuperGT — Suzuka

IRC — Czech Rally

Back to full service next week!

Catch-Up: A1GP Taupo

Preface – This is the first in a regular series where I will write a few short paragraphs giving my general impressions of races I watch which are not F1 or IndyCar. As I am utterly obsessed with motorised combat I have been storing up masses amounts of racing on my DVR and elsewhere since the beginning of the year. I am only now beginning to work through them.

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A couple of weeks ago I watched the A1GP races at Taupo, which were held in January. I forgot to take any kind of notes and I think this series of posts will be about impressions of events rather than going into detail. We’ll see.

Taupo is a curious little circuit which got a makeover especially for the return of a big open-wheel single-seater series to New Zealand’s shores after an absence of far, far too long. Unfortunately it is quite dusty and even after the makeover, narrow and has twisty bits. These don’t help bigger open wheel cars and the two A1 races were very processional, the only racing really happening when someone messed up the last turns (which form a chicane) or got a wheel on to the dusty area on the edge of the track.

The cars had faults too, the engine management system was cutting in when drivers were trying to pull away from a standstill, such as a race start or a pit stop. Not good. It ruined several races and cost Ireland the double-victory. The series is still obsessed with PowerBoost.

The event was very well attended proving the appetite for a major open-wheel event in NZ. I am not convinced this is the right venue. There is a new circuit under construction and A1GP is rumoured to be heading there instead, so let’s hope that works, and while the people at Taupo may be disappointed they can take heart from the fact their circuit upgrades are a legacy of A1GP’s long-term aim of improving motorsport facilities around the world in places F1 can’t or won’t touch.